Keeping international classrooms alive through virtual mobility
CHEF Webinar
Date: November 3, 2021, 13.00-15.00
Venue: Online. Participants will recieve a Zoom-Link closer to the event.
Fee: Free
Registration deadline: November 1, 2021
Abstract
In times of the pandemic, physical international mobility at universities has been restricted. National political decisions (e.g. in Denmark) are putting further limitations on the international classroom. In this interactive online workshop, we will share strategies and tools for enabling students and staff to be involved in the international classroom whether or not they can physically cross national borders. Two PhD researchers will share recent research findings on the conception and practice of virtual exchange. We will also discusss how strategies of international presence via digital means (virtual mobility) can be integrated into the curriculum and classroom practices.
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Asserting the Nation: Comparative studies on the rise of neo-nationalism in higher educationCHEF-Talk
Date: November 18, 2021, 15.00-16.00 AbstractPresentation of the Sapere Aude and Inge Lehmann projects by Associate Professor and research program director, Katja Brøgger. The projects are funded by Independent Research Fund Denmark and will be launched autumn 2021. |
You just have to learn to play the game: Regret, resentment, resignation and responsibility in narratives of academic precarityCHEF-Talk
Date: November 25, 2021, 15.00-16.00 AbstractThis paper draws on narrative interviews with temporarily employed UK women academics. Recognising that individual narratives reflect wider cultural norms and power relations, these illuminate ways in which casualisation is being normalised and justified in this neoliberal context. Casualisation of academic work continues to accelerate, disproportionately affecting women, Black and ethnic minority staff; job insecurity can have catastrophic personal, affective, health, financial and career consequences, undermining wider equity goals. However, for some participants poor lived experiences and delayed career progression were linked to personal choices, reflecting individual responsibilisation which characterizes the neoliberal era. They also reflect dominant ideas about linear career paths which can negate lived, gendered, racialized, ableised, classed, caring experiences, revealing some of the overarching myths which allow such working conditions to continue. Such narratives can obscure the deliberate adoption of specific business models which comprise lack of investment in staff, creating exploitative situations and exclusionary practices across the sector which in interplay with ongoing structural inequities with detrimental effects on individuals and institutions. This paper argues for continued resistance, suggesting that the implications of pursuing this path mean that only the most privileged will be able to take the risks of pursuing a career in academia. |
Student activism as productive ‘nagging’? Inclusion, free speech and critical spaces for learningCHEF-Talk
Date: November 30, 2021, 15.00-16.00 AbstractIn recent years, there has been a marked upsurge in student mobilization to promote social justice and equality at universities in countries like the USA, the UK and Denmark. Students criticize their universities for reproducing norms and practices that systematically marginalise or discriminate against certain bodies and voices in academia. In contrast to the public and sometimes confrontational activism used by students in the USA and the UK, students in Denmark tend to engage in more dialogue-oriented forms of ‘everyday activism’ that are not explicitly connected to (but still resonate with) larger social movements. In this paper, I use the case of student activism in Denmark as a window onto the wider political debates around the relation between academic freedom/free speech and growing efforts to create inclusive educational spaces at Danish universities. I show how international debates around identity politics and free speech as well as institutional practices around reputation management and student participation unfortunately often work to discourage open dialogue around the development of teaching and learning. With inspiration from Mansbridge (1996), I argue that a central task for both students and their institutions is the cultivation of exploratory and critical spaces that can productively ‘nag’ established practices and norms and goad us into future action. |